I used a 20-degree rated double sleeping bag, but I also had a 40lb little heater named Lady who would cuddle with me.It was more of a rude alarm clock than anything (it never happened, or at least never bothered me, until it was time to get up). I did wake up a few times to dribbles of water falling on my face from condensation settling on the plastic panel above the rear window. I made mine larger than the windows they covered and stuck them with Scotch Outdoor Mounting Tape (it’s heavy-duty and didn’t lose integrity when exposed to water). This prevented waking up in an ice coffin every morning. Initially, I thought they would serve only as privacy blockers, but the sun deflectors also blocked any frozen condensation from me while I slept. I put silver window shades in the rear and side windows of the car.In real life, I never used it, but I was still happy to have one along with me. In my research, I learned that a large tarp could be thrown over the bed to trap heat.A thick curtain could help this while provide more privacy.
The front of the car was always colder and my feet were at the mercy of my blankets every night. And with both my dog and I crammed back there, it was easy to heat. With my bed frame, I had about a foot of space to heat. Makes sense – heating up a mansion is going to take more energy (and money) than heating a studio apartment. The smaller the space, the less heating you have to do.Here’s what I learned from the research and the road: However, I spent a lot of time researching how to survive the cold to silence my doubts. There was nothing elaborate about the way I lived during the 2016/17 winter and I have no great advice to impart on designing for comfort. I read through it a few times and slapped together a PVC frame, duck taped a sheet of plywood on top and called it groovy. My knowledge of building an adventure vehicle starts and stops with a guide from Erin Outdoors on how she converted her CRV into a camper. I replied to her with resounding confidence: yes, yes I was fine––in fact, I was warm. I was worried, wondering if everyone was right about me until that below-freezing morning in Mammoth. I heard the stories of people dying while slumming it in a ski resort parking lot. But hearing so much doubt made me question my own safety. Time after time I reassured her, and the others, that I would be fine and that if anything went south of freezing, I would book it to a Motel 6 for the night. My mom was the most worried about my winter road trip, though everyone seemed to think I was on some sort of suicide mission. “I saw that it was 8 below last night, are you okay?” I was surprised, cocooned in my hefty sleeping bag with my dog I thought it was warmer, a lot warmer. I had converted my Subaru Forester into camper to spend the winter in the mountains. I woke up to a text from my mother one morning in early January. How I survived the winter of 2017 in my Subaru
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